A Few Thoughts on State-Carolina

It was an eerie scene when the Smith Center crowd realized Sidney Lowe was absent from NC State's bench. On press row, we'd already heard that Lowe was battling flu-like symptoms... but to see the State bench without him was a bit rattling to say the least. You could almost hear the crowd whispering "Where is he?" one-by-one. That's a strange sound to hear from 20-thousand people. Luckily Smith Center is next-door to a major hospital. Here's hoping everything turns out A-OK for Sidney Lowe.

Monte Towe all but said his team was shaken by the absence of their head coach, and they played like it. Carolina took advantage, and things got out of hand down the stretch. But if you're looking for positives, here are a few I'll throw out there:

* State matched a potential number one seed point for point for another 20 minutes. You have to admire this team's heart. They just ran out of gas -- and emotion. I'm sure it was hard playing that second half with their coach in the hospital.

* Carolina seems to be getting back to the formula that's made Tar Heel teams successful for five decades now: Get the Ball Inside. Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright combined for 44 points -- when those two are effective, this is a dangerous basketball team. And look at the rebounding stats: Dead Even at halftime, Plus-17 in favor of Carolina at game's end.